If one factor was obvious after two weekends of the annual Austin Metropolis Limits competition, it’s that the unending cycle of nostalgia is shining a renewed highlight on indie rock of the 2010s. With a lineup that includes darlings from that period comparable to Empire of the Solar, Cage the Elephant, Ardour Pit, Phantogram, Dr. Canine, Rainbow Kitten Shock and MARIN, ACL felt like stepping again in time with simply sufficient of the fitting fashionable twists.
Followers chasing the throwback sound had been confronted with a number of scheduling dilemmas. On Friday, Empire of the Solar and Cage the Elephant took the stage on the similar time throughout the large Zilker Park from each other, with some spry attendees making an attempt to catch a few of each. Cage’s set on the American Specific stage was highlighted by fireballs and frontman Matt Shultz’s acrobatic stunts, whereas Empire of the Solar packed followers like sardines into the smaller Miller Mild stage for a kaleidoscope of of EDM and trippy visuals.
Likewise, Ardour Pit’s set on the Tito’s tent was typically drowned out by T-Ache’s efficiency on the primary stage, however songs comparable to “Sleepyhead” had been nonetheless potent sufficient to jolt one again to the period of outsized shirts and Tumblr logins.
One of many weekend’s high names, the Strokes, had been at a time a blueprint for a lot of 2010s-era acts, and even frontman Julian Casablancas commented on the seeming generational divide on show at ACL. “It sucks that they make you select, to not get political,” he mentioned after joking that the band was going to take a break to observe a few of Sabrina Carpenter’s simultaneous headlining set. The group’s 17-song efficiency featured 9 songs from their first two albums, together with 5 from 2001’s landmark Is This It.
As for Carpenter, she delighted not solely Texans however followers of a sure age by welcoming the Chicks for a canopy of their chart-topping 1998 single “Broad Open Areas” and a model of Carpenter’s personal “Please Please Please.” Purple sizzling U.Ok, singer Olivia Dean served because the nightly viewers member who’s comically “arrested” in the course of the music “Juno.”
Acts comparable to Joey Valance, gaming- and meme-loving hip-hop duo Brae and queer indie pop star King Princess drew massive crowds of younger followers all through the weekend, whereas MJ Lenderman bridged the hole between indie rock and extra jam-leaning sounds, creating the proper vibe for a noon competition set on a shaded aspect stage. Moist Leg balanced punk perspective with dream pop, whereas Magdalena Bay juxtaposed bed room pop vocals with cheekily retro set design.
Past dueling Sunday headliners the Killers (who busted out a uncommon cowl of the Pet Store Boys-popularized “You Had been All the time on My Thoughts”) and EDM star John Summit (who typically spins cuts by 2010s artists comparable to Tame Impala, Kesha and the Mood Entice), Gregory Alan Isakov gave heartfelt because of the gang for warching his first ACL set some 20-plus years into his profession, Doechii impressed together with her vitality and stage presence and Gigi Perez reduce threw the new solar together with her highly effective singing on the Girl Hen stage.
